Where Islam spreads, freedom dies

The no-go areas are called Zones Urbaines Sensibles (ZUS) or Sensitive Urban Zones, where even the emergency services fear to tread. These are translated extracts from a French government report on the ZUS issued last week.

In 2006, 4.4 million people live in ZUS, which is 7% of the French population. The population of metropolitan ZUS has diminished by 2.3% since 1999, that is – 0.3 % on average per year; this reduction is less sharp than in the preceding period, namely 0.6% per year between 1990 and 1999. However the regions Île-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Aquitaine, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and Corse have seen their populations in ZUS increase since 1999.

The characteristics of the inhabitants of the ZUS have changed litte since 1999. They are younger than in the surrounding urban areas; more than one in three is below 20 years of age in ZUS compared to 1 in 4 within their conurbations. The proportion of foreigners is higher: 17.5 % of the inhabitants of ZUS are foreigners (compared to 8.2% in their conurbations), of whom almost half originate from the countries of North Africa, and 10.2% have acquired French citizenship.

…According to the study “Trajectoires et Origines”, immigrants, that is to say persons born abroad and of foreign nationality, and the descendants of immigrants, that is to say persons at least one of whose parents was an immigrant, represent more than half of the people aged between 18 and 50 living in ZUS.

In the ZUS of the Parisian conurbation, they represent as much as 64% of the populationaged between 18 and 50. The descendants of immigrants thus live in ZUS twice as often as the population as a whole, and immigrants almost three times as often.

…The rate of unemployment of immigrants and the descendants of immigrants is generally higher than that of the rest of the population. Immigrants and the descendants of immigrants are also more often unemployed when they live in ZUS than when they live outside of ZUS. When they are employed, immigrants and the descendants of immigrants earn salaries that are below average. In ZUS, especially, the salaries of immigrants are more concentrated around the minimum wage than those of the population as a whole. The type of employment occupied by the immigrants and the descendants of immigrants also differs from that of the rest of the population: for both men and women, they are more often workers and less often executives compared to the rest of the population, in ZUS and outside of ZUS.

…While, inside ZUS and outside of ZUS, almost 9 out of 10 express agreement with the proposition “I feel French”, only 57% of those in ZUS and 79% outside of ZUS express agreement with the proposition “I am seen as French”.

It's interesting to have a government officially admit that immigrants and their descendants are more often unemployed than the rest of the population. The mystery is how they can reconcile that admission with the claim that we need these immigrants to boost our economies.